Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1887-05-02
sl1onth'a Column.
A Detectives Sermon.

The cell-door in the police station
was closed upon a theft who had
given his age as seventeen years,
and who looked even younger His
clothing and person were clean, and
his features were of a type indicating
intelligence. The brutal express
sion often noticed in law-breakers
was Taking entirely in his. A Neu
York Tribune reporter, who saw
him locked up, noticed tears in the
Youths blue eyes. The detective
who had made the arrest had served
many years in the police department,
and was familiar with the history of
many thieves. "That boy ought
not to he a thief" he said. Ellis
father is dead. and he has a respec-
table. Woodworking mother, to whom
he might be a comfort instead of a
curse. He has been on the island
twice already, and now he will 60
up for burglary"
ssWhat kind of boys become bur-
glars? ?" the reporter asked
''AlI kinds"
''Do good boys ever get to be
thieves?"
eyes, when they fall into bad
company"
"What influence do You consider
the most powerful in leading boys
on to crime?'
s'Rum."
Has not natural depravity much
to do with their fall.
Il do not believe that human de-
pravitv is natural" the detective
said. sit is unnatural. The lives
of the worst criminals in the city
prove as much. Did it ever ecu
to YOU that there is much less of
what YOU call natural d~epravity in
country places than in the city.
People get to be bad because their
surroundings are bad; because they
cannot resist temptation because
their better instincts are taken away
by evil influences. This boy here
lives in a tenement house. His
mother is poor, and there is not
much pleasure for him in the house.
So he runs about in the street. If
he lived in the country, as | did,
when / was a boy, he couldn't find
much mischief away from home.
Here he associates with all kinds of
boys, and there is not much wicked
ness which a New York gamin does
not know about. Every grog-shop
which bears a sign Pool for Drinks
is a training school for young thieves.
The boys get heated with beer, and
are fascinated with the game. They
must have money to enjoy the sport,
and drink leads them to steal it.
This lad began stealing from his
poor mother first. She would not
have him punished. Then he stole
from his employer and was discharg-
ed. l caught him picking pockets
and sent to the penitentiary. When
he got out he robbed a money drawer
in a grocery. Last night he and
his pals broke the shutters of a
cigar store and carried off a small
amount of the stock. After he gets
out of prison again he may become a
more expert burglar; but his mother
will die of a broken heart"
y sob within the cell sounded like
an expression of assent. The officer
noticed it, and turning away from
the door he added in a lower tone,
lit is the fault of the parents some
times. If his home life had been
made a little better and pleasanter
he might have been a steady boy.
His mother was always complaining
and fretting in the house before he
began to steal, and since then she
has tried to shield him from the po-
lice, while she kept nagging him
when they were alone. Boys are
growing up to be sober, honest men
in the worst tenement houses in the
city. You will find as a rule that
they have been taught by their par
ents to expect punishment for evil
doing, and they have amusements
at home."-The Nelc Noon.